When we quit, thought polls, big win would follow: Arvind Kejriwal

Kejriwal statement came in response to questions regarding the AAP government’s resignation.

Kejriwal’s statement came in response to questions regarding the AAP government’s resignation.

Nearly four months after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) resigned from the Delhi government, party chief Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday, said he had expected a fresh Assembly elections to take place soon after.

“When we resigned from the government, we thought elections would take place soon and we would form the government after winning a majority of seats. A number of months have passed, but the elections have not taken place. We did not expect this when we resigned from the government,” Kejriwal said during a mohalla sabha at Kali Bari, in his New Delhi Assembly constituency, on Friday.

Kejriwal’s statement came in response to questions regarding the AAP government’s resignation. “There are questions being raised in the media and many of you also want to know why we resigned. We have 27 MLAs in Delhi. We do not have a majority. After the election results were announced, we did not want to form government with Congress support,” he said.

“We formed the government after the people asked us to do so,” he said, justifying the AAP’s decision to form a government with outside support from the Congress.
Kejriwal said the government had been formed only after the Congress agreed to support them on a few basic issues. “But the people had also told us to govern till the time the Congress was backing us on some issues,” he said.

It was only when the AAP government faced roadblocks in getting their proposals, especially the Lokpal bill, approved in the Assembly, that the party decided to resign, the former chief minister said.

Accepting that his party’s resignation has left many disappointed, Kejriwal went on to identify the reasons for this resentment. “I tried to understand why people were angry. After my interaction with the public, I found two two reasons — corruption in the capital had increased after the AAP government had resigned and people’s expectations had increased exponentially,” he said. The AAP chief also explained the concept of mohalla sabha and the Swaraj bill proposed by the party. “This mohalla sabha is being held to discuss how the MLA development funds of Rs 4 crore should be spent. Rupees 1 crore has been kept aside for water and sewerage,” Kejriwal said.